Note:  The book is at the publishers and they are working on the final draft, (which I have to approve).  It should be printed and in my hands by next Monday.  Stay tuned...

Today I went to the Viera Wetlands.  It's an amazing place for nature photography.  Any bird or animal that lives near or uses water in some capacity in their lives can be see there.  I am never disappointed and have always come away with some awesome nature shots.  Today was no different.

The traffic there was heavy.  Clearly someone on some birding or photography blog mentioned that the Sandhill Cranes are nesting at the Viera Wetlands, because there were about forty or so photographers, (people with cameras) there, all in one area, blocking the road and talking REALLY loud!  The birds were at least forty yards away, nestled down in the cattails, barely showing anything, save a peek or two when they changed positions.  There were clearly no babies yet, perhaps there were eggs, but you couldn't tell from the road.  Regardless, the bottleneck was real and it took more time to get through it than it did to get around the rest of the wetlands.  You can see by the picture, even the birds were annoyed!

The star of the day was the Glossy Ibis.  They were everywhere; preening, flying, searching for food, etc..

Many alligators were present also.

All in all it was a great photography day.

Hello Faithful Followers!

Today is a great day!  Why you ask?  Well, I will tell you...

Today I talked to the book publisher and finalized all the necessary details to print and publish my 1st book!  I will again be in touch with them tomorrow to discuss layout and design, but it's pretty much done, (I did it myself), so unless they see something that is grossly out of the ordinary, I will have numerous copies of my book on or about March 15, 2017!!

The book is titled, "Florida Backyard Birds" and is targeting the novice bird watcher.  It's small, (45 pages), but it's full of photographs and detailed information about numerous species of backyard Florida birds.  This book will be the first in a series of birding books that I'm going to write.  The second one will be Florida Wading Birds, but it's only in the thinking stages at this point in time.

I will be contacting various libraries in Florida to see if they would like to purchase some copies for their shelves, but first it will go to friends and family and whomever else would like it.

A big "THANK YOU" to my loyal followers and those that pushed me to get it published.  You're the best!

Here's a sneak peek at the cover, (albeit a poor quality photograph).

More information to follow...

Hello All...

Yesterday and today were great photography days!  I went to the Apopka Wildlife Drive, (yesterday late afternoon and today early afternoon), and had an amazing photography day!!

The beginning of the drive is quite uneventful.  The dirt road was very dry, causing dust to come up from every car and with the wind blowing about 10-15 mph, it was quite the dusty adventure.

I took numerous photographs along the way.  There were many different herons; Green, Great Blue and Snowy, along with many American Coots and Common Moorhens.  Those pictures don't excite me as much as they used to, but I still cannot pass up a posing subject.

My favorite find of the two days was a Least Bittern.  This bird is normally found deep in the cattails with it's neck stretched to the sky, faux swaying to simulate wind.  It's rare to find one walking about searching for morsels of food, albeit fish or mussels or bugs.







All in all it was an awesome photography day, capped off by an Anhinga with a freshly caught fish, (I think some sort of catfish).

I did see a large male Otter, but it retreated back into the brush before I could take it's picture.  Perhaps next time....

Hello faithful and not quite abandoned followers!

It's been quite a while since I've both had the time and material for a blog entry.  I apologize to the faithful and also to the not-so-faithful followers.  I will try to do better in the future!

A lot has happened to me since my last entry.  I was gifted an amazing new camera, (a Canon 7D Mark II) and I purchased a 70-200mm 2.8 lens!  My photography, as you can imagine, took a giant leap upwards in both quality and quantity!!  The images are cleaner and due to the amazing amount of light I can now capture, my eye seems to have gotten better also!  Now there is still a lot of improvement that I need to make, (the camera is so technical that it'll take me six months to learn all it can do, and even longer to somewhat master the settings for any particular shot.

Anyway, here's one from the other night.  Now understand that it's not a great subject matter, (two dogs playing), but it does show some of the abilities of the camera in catching action and capturing it in a crystal clear fashion!

I have also gone out and attached my 2x converter to it, making the lens a 400mm at 4.0 aperture.  What a beast!  I'm very impressed at it's ability to focus fast and silently!  Here's one example of a House Finch taken at about 25 feet.

There will be more coming.  Please stay tuned...

Well Hello Again!!!  It's been over a year since I've taken the time to sit down and write anything on this blog.  If you are still reading, (and I don't blame you if you aren't), then I will make all attempts to keep posting much more regularly.

Last week, a good friend suggested a "photo date"; that is, meet and go somewhere fun and take lots and lots of photographs.  That is exactly what we did!

It was a very warm Sunday morning and I decided early that I would climb out of my comfort zone and leave the zoom lenses behind.  My lens of choice for the day was the Canon 18-55mm kit lens.  This lens came with my first Canon 20D about nine years ago and has been bouncing around in my camera bag ever since.  I took it out, cleaned it off and put it on the camera.  It felt strange.  I've never shot with a lens this short for any length of time.  This will be quite interesting.

My friend had recently purchased a new Fuji camera and a new 16mm lens.  I had quite a bit of reservation trying to keep up with newer technology, with an eleven year old camera and equally old lens.

We first went to a large antique show/flea market in the area.  There weren't a lot of people there, but many of the vendors seemed to give us the 'stink eye' when they saw our cameras.  We answered numerous questions; "Why are you taking pictures?" and "What are those pictures for?"  We were very polite and no one stopped us, but we were put in a few uncomfortable situations by being followed and watched.

Here are a few of my shots from the day.  I have to admit, the 18-55mm lens was quite impressive to me.  The focus was sharp and the macro was amazing.  I can't wait to do it again.

Just Another Day

Being sick isn't fun.  Having a perfect photography location literally twenty steps from your bed AND being sick is even less fun.  However, with a carefully planned system, one can always devise a way to accomplish one's goals.  Now, having a bathroom two steps from my side of the bed is a wonderful thing on days like today and yesterday.  It seems I caught was can only be described as "the double faucet flu" and so going to work wasn't an option.  Heck, for that matter, staying home wasn't much of one either.  However if you're going to have to visit the porcelain palace a lot, one would hope that it would be at home, where convenience and a modicum of privacy is available.

Initially I was content in staying in bed as much as possible, eating chicken soup, (thank you wonderful wife) and getting rid of this disease.  Then the birds started singing.  First it was the Carolina Wren at the crack of dawn, (I think the clock said 5:55am), singing loud and proud right off our patio.  This was followed by the female Northern Cardinal who amazingly enough has a virtual symphony of songs; everything from low chortles to melodic melodies with a canary type sound.
After that, I was awake.  I did everything I needed to do upon waking and laid there and listened to the sounds.  I heard not only the Northern Cardinals, (both), but also Blue Jays, Mourning Doves, a Gray Catbird or two, the Carolina Wren, (who overpowered most of the others), and an occasional unknown Warbler.

Now if you know me, you know that I can't stay in bed with this type of thing happening outside my window.  Its not even a logical thought.  So, I got up, got dressed and schlepped out to the patio to see what photo-ops awaited me?  As I lay there I thought, this isn't really a good idea.  You've had nothing to eat or drink and it seems that this headache and fever are getting worse.  Then the birds came.

They must have been watching me, because the minute I started to get up and go back to bed, they started to fly in.  Red Winged Blackbirds, Brown Thrashers, Northern Cardinals, Carolina Wrens, Mourning Doves, Blue Jay and even a Yellow Rumped Warbler or two were on the feeder almost immediately.  The light wasn't at it's best as it was just becoming light, but I tried to take a few pictures anyway.  Turns out they weren't very good as they were too dark.  I waited.

By 6:20am it was pretty well light out and the birds were still coming.  Not as many as before; I suspect that many were full from the gorging they had prior to sun-up, but there were still some.
I think I snapped about one hundred pictures, most were duplicates.  I was having fun and frankly I'd forgotten about the sick feelings I'd had, (for the moment).

At 6:45am Mother Nature called, (and you don't hang-up), so I quit for the day.  I got some good shots, but really not as many as were available.  I found a few lighting situations that I need to work on and get better at.  This will come in time.

Today, even though I didn't feel good, was a pretty good day out back.  I'll try again this weekend, when I feel better.

Early Morning

I'm posting this almost a week after the pictures were taken.  Why one asks?  Well there's really no good reason other than, I'm just lazy.  Truth is, I didn't think of posting any of the pictures.  Not that they were bad or anything, but just because I didn't think of it.

It was early on Tuesday October 15, 2013.  The weather was overcast and it had rained in the late night hours.  The grass was still wet when I went out and filled the platform feeder with our usual mixture of seed.  The Blue Jays were out and very loud.  The sounds from the woods were almost spring-like; a twitter here and a chip and chirp there.  I was loving the moment.

As usual the Northern Cardinals were the first to the feeder; first the male, then the female.  I marvel at the politeness of this pair.  They are seldom at the feeder together and when they are they give one another plenty of room.  A few Mourning Doves appeared but they kept their distance, sitting on a branch near, but far enough away from the feeder as to not bring any attention to themselves.    Then the Tufted Titmice arrived!

They almost seemed to change the atmosphere around the area behind our apartment.  It suddenly seemed alive with movement.  A glimpse of yellow here and a flash of red there.  The bushes moved to the left, then right, then to the left again.  There were birds everywhere!

The Titmice seemed to control the tempo.  They'd fly in, grab a seed, wasting little time on the feeder, and again fly off to a spot deep into the woods.  This went on for about an hour.  A quick visit by a Red Bellied Woodpecker, who seemed to be in a hurry also, taking one or two trips to the feeder only to disappear for good.

Suddenly, all was quiet.  I checked the skies for some kind of raptor.  There was none to be found.  Nor were there many sounds either.   I really don't know what caused the stoppage of nature, but it was quiet.  Really quiet!

Regardless, I got a few good shots.  I would have loved more, but one takes what one gets at times like these.